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What's a Wreck?

A Cake Wreck is any cake that is unintentionally sad, silly, creepy, inappropriate - you name it. A Wreck is not necessarily a poorly-made cake; it's simply one I find funny, for any of a number of reasons. Anyone who has ever smeared frosting on a baked good has made a Wreck at one time or another, so I'm not here to vilify decorators: Cake Wrecks is just about finding the funny in unexpected, sugar-filled places.

Here at Cake Wrecks, we're still in the mood to celebrate April Fool's Day. After all, what other day of the year is it acceptable to go grocery shopping in swim trunks and a propeller beanie? (No? Wrong holiday?) So let's check out some amazing cakes that just might fool you into believing they're the real deal.

(Or maybe we threw in a few non-cakes just to trick you. Think you're up to the challenge of spotting a fake?)

Reader Comments (154)

The guitar? Cake. Evidence: wood grain is wrong.

Drums? Cake. Drumsticks: not cake.Evidence: chrome isn't actual crhome. A drum head that worn would also be accompanied by a dented rim.

Shoes: Closest shoe is cake, furthest is real.Evidence: stitching on furthest shoe, presence of a sole, looks like it could actually hold a foot. Also, closest shoe is present on the cake in the second image of the set.

Chicken wings: Cake... all of it, except may the celery.Evidence: No bone visible on the wings.

Jameson bottle: Cake. Labels and cap: Not cake.Evidence: funky shape (too wide in the middle), and reflections don't match. The two light sources visible from the bottle itself don't line up with the light sources reflected by the gold foil or the bottle cap... The foil and cap, however, do agree with each other. Wonderful fake reflection of the cloth below the bottle, though.

Trunk: Cake.Evidence: The strapping on the side, above the handle isn't straight, despite it being stretched across the lip of the trunk. Also, the pattern may be lined up diagonally, but not horizontally... Very close, but just slightly off.

Basketball and shoes: Cake. Evidence: I have yet to see any perfectly spherical cake. This ball is made up of at least 3, probably 4 layers of cake. The skin of the ball also doesn't reflect light like leather does. Neither do the shoes.

Popcorn box: Cake. Movie reel: Cake. Popcorn: can't tell; I'd expect to see the kernel husks somewhere on a small sampling of kernels, but the variety of shades, along with the shape, makes me think that however the popcorn was made, it isn't icing... Especially considering that the cake layers are very obvious in the box, and the paper saying "Happy Birthday Jeff!!" (almost exclamations of ellipses...) doesn't match with the side of the film reel...

Cheese: Cake. Bottle: Cake. Box: Cake. Knife: Cake.Evidence: Again, the reflections aren't uniform... The wood grain is also faked... and no self respecting cheese is going to be that mushy AND that holey.

Crayons: Not crayons. Evidence: The shape of crayons is wrong for that brand. The wrappers aren't paper. There is no waxy sheen. Since they're not real, they have to be cake.

Gumball machine: Cake. Gumballs: Not Cake. Bowl: Not Cake. Lid: Cake.Evidence: Multiple layers, no reflections off of the plastic (although the airbrushing at the bottom of the "metal" gives a very good illusion of brushed aluminum reflecting a bright surface underneath.). The gumballs, however, all have uniform reflections, so they're actually shiny.

the helmet is real. the gumball is a cake (it's on their website). the chicken wings could be cake, but i didn't see it on her website, which is very nice btw, and i didnt see the bottle either, which has to be real because the glass is just too glassy!and the cat is real

#2 The drum is real, although the drumsticks could be made of turkey. (Rim shot!)

#3a Shoe in the foreground is cake. Not because of the lack of stitching or the type of material used in the construction of the inner frammis, but because it is identical to one in the photo below (also why it doesn't have a heel).

#4 Real wings; the celery and lettuce are fake, and the dip is ranch buttercream. Deal with it.

#7 Cake; no texture.

#8 Real helmet. This should be posted in every bakery in the galaxy. Not that it would necessarily help, but it might.

#9 Film reel: cake. Bag: could be fondant; looks a little thick for paper. Popcorn: if it isn't real, someone went to a *lot* of trouble.

#11 Cake. You can tell, because some of the colors are off by 1/4 shade.

#12 Cake. [My theory is] The bowl is made of gelatin, but these people know how to keep it from melting all over everything.

#13 Cake. This isn't a wreck, so I am assuming the wire handle is food-safe.

#14 Cake (and things related thereto), from butter to plate. While bacon cake is an excellent idea (especially if bacon-flavored), this looks a tad pre-cooked.

#15 I think perhaps this cat would like a bit of fish. If the fish is gone later, I can assume that the cat is real, though if the fish is still there, it may simply be that the cat was not hungry.

the helmet & cat are not cakes. looking at mike's webpage of cakes, i think the drumsticks are real. he does an amazing job with his cakes! the shoe in the front is the cake and the shoe in the back is a real shoe.

the helmet and the cat and the show in the background are fakes... not sure about the drumsticks... and the shoe in the forground was the cake version...no??in any event, the details on these cakes were ridiculously awesome!

The "kitten salad" reminds me of a spot they had on one of the early David Letterman shows, when it was a daytime show. They had "Handy Household Tips" and one of them was a drawing of kittens snoozing in the middle of greenery with narration "Heavily sedated pets make interesting centrepieces"... Apparently, the daytime audience "didn't get it" and there was hue and cry because callers thought it was serious...